Film noir was introduced to Hollywood in the 1940's coming from Western European immigrants film noir translates to film black which is basically suggesting that the films in black and white but not the same as the normal everyday black and white film before colour was introduced. However of this era it was low-key black and white and was only used in more specifically the crime genre. Film noir comes from Germanic cinematography and was at it's Hollywood prime during the early 1940's to late 1950's.
Where did genres come from?
Genres arose from ancient Greece/Italy and there knowledge for literature, poetry, music and performance. When the Romans came and conquered most of Europe they obviously had a great impact of culture across the rest of western Europe.
How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re-enforce genres?
The 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re-enforced genres by allowing them to be shown to a wide audience as back in the 1930's there was only one or two films being shown at the cinema so if you didn't want to watch the horror film then you would have to go and watch the comedy or drama. Having little films being shown it would increase the number of audiences for different genres especially when Hollywood became big many people would go to the cinema to watch any film.
Which genres became popular in Hollywood?
Westerns, Musicals, Screwball comedies and film noir were the most popular in the 1930's to 1940's and a lot has changed since then with totally different types of genre appearing.
The top 5 movie genres starting from 5th (Thriller), 4th (Drama) 3rd (Action), 2nd (Adventure) and topping them all is Comedy. These are the top genres since 1995 which are based off of the pure fact of Box office hits and purely the reason that Comedy has sold more tickets than any other genre probably because everyone loves to laugh and is probably the second greatest feeling being human.
Why do audiences like genre films?
They like genre films for the fact that they now know what they're going to be watching for instance if your about to watch a horror then you'll be ready for what's to come...a fright. However if you want to go to the cinema with your friends or wife you'll pick two opposite genres like a RomCom (wife)/ action adventure (friends) to suite the mood of the night/day.
In horror and thriller films it is extremely common that the victims in the films are white females. This is also evident in The Ring as the first character we see who is being harassed by the spirit is a young, white female. This follows the archetype in Hollywood that women are the weaker sex and are nearly always victimised. However, the main antagonist in the film is also a young female. This would go against the archetype as it shows a woman being the main antagonist and being dominant over the other characters.
The opening scene of The Ring features a woman being tormented by spirits in her home.
The only noise that can be heard at the start of the scene is the static from the TV. This makes the scene seem eerie and creepy. When the TV turns on by itself a high pitch screech is sounded. This is again evident when the fridge door opens on it own. This is there to emphasise the fact that the happenings are supernatural and the audience would start to worry for the characters wellbeing. In addition to this a spooky whoosh noise is heard when the spirit comes out of the TV. This also makes the scene seem paranormal adding to the scary atmosphere in the scene.
The only sounds in the first minute of the clip are ambient sounds such as footsteps and the TV`s static. This makes the scene tense and it makes the audience anticipate something, even though nothing happens. It is very foreboding.
At the start of the clip theres a medium shot so the audience get a feel of the surroundings of which is a normal family home by that time they would start to relax as nothing horrible happens in your own home... but all of a sudden you're able to see the television turn on by its self which it is then zoomed in on gradually. There is then an extreme close up on the girl to show the shock and fear on her face as she turns to see it through the glass windows. The girl then moves into the living room but is shown in her perspective as the camera moves as she would. It then opens up the view of the whole lounge as a medium long shot. Once she turns off the television and it comes back on there is a close up shot of her and the television. When you hear the whoosh sound she turns around very quickly and so does the camera in a 90 degree turn as an act of surprise. She then follows the noise up stairs; in away the camera acts as if it's the spirit when it looks down the stairs at her as a high medium shot. The last few camera angles are worm's eye view showing water coming out of the door and the girl walking up to it. Then theres a extreme close up of the door handle with it being the main focus in the shot because thats the one thing in real life you would never do but in a horror they do the unexpected. Once opened a picture of a well appears and as i was saying earlier the camera act as if it was the spirit with a quick motion the camera zoomed in on the girl faces acting as if it is about to attack her. The camera moves slowly within the scene to show a more tense vibe because as the camera goes slow the audience will start to wonder whats going to happen next and the more tension will build.
There are no fancy transitions just jump cuts which suggests that they want to get straight to the point otherwise it wouldn't catch the audience by surprise if they used any other type of transition. Using the jump cut puts the audience on edge as one moment it could be fine then the next you could see a gruesome/scary imagery this tends to fit a low budget horror movie. The only other editing in this scene is at the very end which they used a static filter so it looks just like the television has engulfed her with flashing imagery of a little girl screaming and a well.
In the scene there is a school girl (wearing a uniform) thats in her family kitchen thats just been to the fridge to get a drink which is very ordinary however the television turns on by it's self and is showing static. She then thinks someone is playing a trick on her and turns the t.v. off once by the remote then by removing the plug. She then hears a sound which i think sounds like the spirit coming out of the television which there is another horror movie based on roughly the same thing called the Poltergeist of which is a story based on a little girl getting possessed by a few spirits by talking to them through a static channel. Anyway the girl then follows the noise up stairs which obviously happens in all horror movies. (they have to open the door and boo! the horror figure is standing right there) She opens the door which mysteriously has water seeping out of it, the television had a picture of a well...she screams and her face gets all disfigured although you don't see that far into the film from that short clip. The well is a major part of the film (spoiler alert) and represents the resting place of a young girl that was tortured for seven days and was filmed during it. The reason for the title of the movie is because of that well as a ring of light appears from when she was trapped in there.
In the opening credits of Se7en there are lots of distort and abrupt images/clips shown which in many films, the context has been used since this film... including Red dragon and a more recent T.V. show the Walking dead. Although these opening credits were not exactly coping Seven in the slightest (story wise) but because they are thrillers/horrors and Seven did so well in the box office it would be strange not to copy se7en.
Se7en's opening credits show a lot of extreme close ups in fact the whole opening credits is short clips with the camera angles always at the point of view from the person or others may say the serial killers point of view. The reason to why I think that its the serial killer because you never see the persons face which gives the sense of mystery and a type of insight to the killers life before the story truly begins. Most of the extreme close ups show a note book/ diary which the killer may record all his victims on. The other majority of the extreme close ups are of the killers hands/fingers in which show quite disturbing imagery especially when you see him slicing of his finger tips with a razor blade... this could suggest that he wants to get rid of his finger prints so he doesn't leave a trace.
There is a range of different types of editing in the opening credits of Se7en such as jump cut; flash cutting (is basically short clips no longer than 2 seconds long)which is commonly used in this opening. Subliminal cuts are also used when you see the serial killer writing notes in his diary this editing is to make the audience feel as if his been writing over a long period of time. However this also makes me/the audience feel that he takes a great deal of time in his work so that no mistakes are made so that he doesn't get caught. In the opening credits they use different types of filters including red, light blue and also a type yellow tinge. These filters are quite dominant in this type of thriller meaning that red relates to blood, blue relates to cold heartedness of the killer and yellow suggests that it's quite old, for instance, yellow paper indicates it probably hasn't been used and has been in dry conditions which come to think about it... looking back on the clip, the killers hands are all dry and crusty.
The sound of the music is very modern and comes under the type of music genre of electric/dance. Although the music seems modern it gives you goose bumps when listening to it as it was like hearing nails on a chalk board. However the first sound you hear is the sound of lighting which the director is trying to the audience to get ready for what is about to come from watching the minor scene before the credits it was peaceful while he was laying on his bed but all of a sudden a break of lighting arose and run the opening credits. At the very end of the of the opening credits there is a brief bit of song lyrics which I quote "you kept me closer to God" this implies that the killer may perhaps be religious and of course is which the whole film is based on.
Throughout the whole clip is based around a diary or note pad which could be the serial killers memorabilia or going back on the religious aspect of things the killer could be trying to recreate the bible... There is also a brief sighting of him a making a cup of tea which i cannot find any reference to apart from that he could be dying the paper yellow to give them that authentic look and try and con people in to believing that its an ancient manuscripts and that they've been believing in the wrong thing. There is also parts in which there are children with a line crossed over them which could imply that they're either victims or it was a picture of the killer as a child. There are also sightings of American dollar bills of which at the end when there is dialogue "you kept me closer to God." He cuts out God (from the dollar bill) which suggests that he wants to take over the role of God by maybe replacing it with his name; by all means the dollar bill is probably the most noticeable currency in the world and one of the most powerful.
In the introduction to blue velvet the first imagery you see
is a white picket fence with red flowers and a blue sky. This imagery
represents the American flag; this puts the audience in a state of mind that
the film they’re about to watch is going to be patriotic or that’s what I
interpreted when I first seen the clip. Throughout the first scene the red is
being represented for example the fire engine.
The music is cheerful and plays throughout the opening clip
having also relating to the name of the film ‘blue velvet’ being sung by Bobby
Vinton. The first scene shows the stereotypical 50’s/60’s American suburban
town: The blue sky, happy and active people, and green lawns an all-round
American utopia or others refer to as the American dream. However the dream
soon turns into a nightmare when a tensebuild-up of a hose pipe about to burst; then suddenly he collapses.
In the build up to the man collapsing on the floor there are
many sounds. The water dispersing out of the tap shows suspense because the
audience thinks that the hose pipe is going to burst of the tap and cause an
accident but it never actually did. When the man fell a dog runs over to bark
and play with the water spraying out of the end of the hose pipe. A baby then
wonders across him crying but what’s surprising is that the town is so work up
upon that they’re life is so perfect and nothing could go wrong that they let
their baby roam the streets unsupervised. However there is a visual metaphor
including beetles that surpasses their happy lives.
The editing throughout the first scene is fade in and out to
show a settled/calmness to the town. Meaning that if it was an unsettled
environment then the fade in and out wouldn’t be as effective due to the fact
that if someone was being attacked there would be a more abrupt editing
transitions like a straight cut.
After the man falls over the camera angle is of an extreme
close up to the ground in which looks like the camera moving through the grass
as if it was a jungle. The extreme close up soon gets a close up of a beetles
nest and them scuttling across each other. The meaning behind this as I found
out from watching a brief analogy of the opening scene in which they explained,
that the beetles show beneath the happiness and bright life that there is a
darkness in everyone’s life and that no one can be safe from the real
world.
180 degree rule: is when two characters are
facing each other in a scene (one on the left and one on the right). Whichever
way the camera is facing the characters have to be in the same place (on the
left or on the right).
Match on action: is part of an editing technique
where one shot cuts to another shot where it is carrying on the same action
from the last shot.
Eye line match: is where the eye line of a
person is in line directly at an object out of the shot.
Shot-reverse-shot: is when a character is
looking at another character with both of them in the shot. The camera is
placed behind the characters shoulder (so getting that character also in shot)
while looking at the other character.
We did the 180 rule in our film during
the last scene. The two main characters are shown facing each other and the
camera always staying on the left hand side of the characters because otherwise
if you cross the 180 degree rule then both characters will look like they’re
facing the same way/view. We used the match on action also
on the last scene, when the main characters exchange a folder, different shots
on the folder are put in place to create the match on action. When the two
characters are facing each other, the eye line match was used when the
character said “who are you?” this had the characters face in eye line view
with the other character off shot. During the last scene a shot reverse shot
was used to make the dialogue between characters be in sequence.
While editing the video on an
adobe premiere went very well although a few editing scenes where not edited
properly in the scene where the main character is being chased. However
applying clips and editing them together so that they flow in a continuum
sequence was easy because of the cutting tool. Using the cutting tool to
shorten down the clips of film was very helpful with the sound as we had
trouble when the ‘rogue’ character (played by Sam) had someone speak over him
when in the dialogue he says “down the stairs.” Using transitions such as slide
in, slide out were commonly used in the opening and ending credits. The titles
were edited in at the end, as we couldn’t make up our minds on the acrylic of
the titles. The music in the film, I find is quite a creative way, especially at
the start where the music is saddening and dismal which is what we wanted… a
boring life but as soon as I blocked my surroundings with my ear phones my life
was more upbeat. Editing the music so it fitted in with when I placed the ear
phones in my ears proved to be surprisingly easy however getting it to be dead
on and crisper was a slight challenge as we had to get it more precise.
